text:
working on for the shop
I've been busy, busy working on new designs for the shop. I'm digging these swirled colors posts, what do you think?
I'm grateful to have had something to keep myself occupied with, especially in the evenings when I'm trying to find an excuse not to fold laundry.
I'm in the process of making necklaces, which I may post when they're up and I'd love to hear your feedback!
Other Stories
17 comments:
I love them!ReplyDelete
Cool! I would wear them:)ReplyDelete
oh that blue, green, & brown swirl just made my day!! LOVE it, can't wait for the necklaces!!ReplyDelete
ohhh, I love them! Can't wait to see the necklaces!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 06, 2011
The swirled blue makes me think of lapis. It's lovely.ReplyDelete
Looking good, Jennifer!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 06, 2011
These are gorgeous, love the interesting colours.ReplyDelete
so pretty!!! i just ordered the solid fuschia and the white and yellow marbled.....i can not wait to get them!ReplyDelete
oh my goodness, the swirls are amazing!ReplyDelete
they are great! i had a friend visiting me recently and we spent 30minutes on your blog going back through the history...we both agreed you are truly very clever! dayleReplyDelete
obsessed. i need the earrings. need 'em.ReplyDelete
even more than the marble i love the shape of these earrings. great work!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 07, 2011
Exciting! Can't wait to see the necklaces!ReplyDelete
Love the green and brown.ReplyDelete
i love these and CAN'T wait to see the necklaces!ReplyDelete
cute girl - cute.ReplyDelete
I just came across your blog – and I instantly fell in love with it! And how fantastic is this jewelry!ReplyDelete
Thank you for your comments, I love hearing from you!
Questions, comments or sponsorship inquires, please contact me via the 'contact' link.


text:
Neighborhood Watch
This story appears in the March 1998 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Is the american dream still achievable? That's the question underlying Around the Block: The Business of a Neighborhood (Harcourt Brace & Co.), Tom Shachtman's account of a year in the life of one group of New York City businesses, beginning April 13, 1993. The protagonists are not Fortune 500 CEOs but, rather, local dry cleaners, shop owners and the like. In this excerpt, Shachtman writes of one former high school science teacher who gambles his life savings to become an eyewear entrepreneur, and a pair of struggling restaurateurs who hope their newly retooled establishment will pull in more neighborhood patrons. It's the stuff of real-life, nitty-gritty entrepreneurship--and dreams.
1993--Sight on Seventh, scheduled to open May 15 on the east side of Seventh Avenue, is the brainchild of a former Long Island science teacher. Myron Michaels retains the studious and inquisitive air of the science classroom, leavened with ebullience and energy. Middle-aged, with thinning hair, Michaels wears crisp shirts and, of course, very stylish eyewear. Before signing his lease, he recalls, "I went down to the Bureau of Records and worked the computer, calling up demographic data, foot-traffic patterns, that sort of thing." The results of his research excited him: The residents in the area were for the most part middle class, relatively young, but with significant disposable income. To be just a few steps from [clothing store] Barney's, he believes, will mean many potential customers already primed to buy quality, stylish merchandise.
There is competition two blocks south, a branch of a four-unit chain called Myoptics, but Michaels considers it far enough away so as not to detract from his own business. His customer base, he believes, will come from the many apartment buildings and businesses around here. He reminds a listener that the American population is aging and that older people need eyewear and that younger people are also spending more money on eyewear, conceiving of it as a stylish clothing accessory.
Only time will tell whether Michaels's assumptions about his location and the population he can serve are right or wrong, but at the outset, Michaels is upbeat and has a specific reason for optimism: He is on an approved-provider list of the Traveler's, the insurance company that covers many Nynex employees--and a Nynex facility is right across the street.
"You have to have certain minimum spatial requirements to properly measure how a patient reads the letter chart," says Michaels. The smallness of his space has been an intriguing design problem. It's been a challenge to fit in the examining area for the optometrist who will come in one day a week, the display counters, the storage space for frames, and still have enough room so customers won't feel crowded.
Eye To The Future
Optical work, with its emphasis on mathematics and precision and the principles of physics, appeals to Michaels. Also, he reasons that if he could deal with teenagers in the classroom, he should certainly be able to satisfy customers for eyewear. His first optical business was part of an HMO on Long Island, but the organization failed. He then worked for an optician near Eighth Avenue and 23rd Street. At that time, he had wanted his own shop but hadn't been ready. Then "this opportunity came up" in an area he liked.
As with most entrepreneurs, Michaels is reluctant to divulge to an outsider the precise financial details of his tenancy or his capitalization, but he reports that he has signed a multiyear lease that he finds "comfortable." In New York, most commercial leases contain a clause that permits the renter to stop paying and vacate the space if the business fails, an important comfort to a start-up venture. Most storefronts in this area rent for around $75 per square foot per month, which would put his rent at a hypothetical $3,000 per month. Rents have been creeping up and, in the process, changing business assumptions: Whereas in the past, businesses could figure that rent would cost them one-quarter of their gross income, now they must figure it at one-third of their gross or more. The hypothetical $3,000-a-month rent will likely require Michaels to sell something like 20 pairs of glasses just to meet it, and twice that many pairs per month to meet his other expenses, pay himself a modest salary, compensate his optometrist, and begin to amortize his start-up costs, which neighborhood observers estimate at between $35,000 and $75,000.
The start-up money, Michaels says, came from his own savings and from "people who believe in me." Michaels certainly appears to be a man on whom friends might reasonably bet: He has a business plan and is experienced at his craft, if not completely as an entrepreneur, and he has what is probably the correct philosophy (and budget to match), one that recognizes it will take time to build a client base and that for a while outgo will likely exceed income. Whether his shop will be different enough from the competitor down the avenue to be commercially viable, say, within the year, is a toss-up.
Chew On This
There's a saw in the restaurant business that anyone who wants to do something other than what he or she is doing opens a dining establishment. That makes for lots of amateurs in the business and for results that are often disastrous. Fifty percent of the restaurants that open in New York shut within three to five years, a failure rate that is even higher than the basic failure rate for businesses. Running a restaurant entails a daily outflow of cash much greater than that of a clothing store, in which the stock is replenished only when items are sold and the owner is the mainstay of the staff.
Moreover, restaurants have to obtain licenses, pass inspections and maintain considerably larger staffs. But if a restaurant becomes popular, it can generate profits of hundreds or thousands of dollars a day, depending on its size. To obtain such intangibles as ingenuity of cuisine and atmosphere, customers of restaurants are used to paying substantial fees.
In a small, garage-like building on Eighth Avenue, Pat Rogers and Bob Barbero are busy destroying their dream restaurant, Rogers & Barbero, and making way for a new one. About half of all new small businesses are begun by people whose previous small enterprises have not done well but who believe they've learned enough to do better the next time around. (See "Bouncing Back" for more on overcoming business failure.)
A labor of love that encompassed everything the partners liked in a place to dine, R&B opened in the fall of 1983, when the area was in the first flush of gentrification. Rogers & Barbero was a brave outpost of haute cuisine among bars and delis catering to the working-class poor, a lushly appointed, candlelit, romantic hideaway serving classic French and Continental dishes and featuring a formidable wine list, as well as one of the first computer systems in a restaurant. An article in The New York Times then put the cost of construction and start-up at a quarter million dollars; 10 years later, Barbero [says] the tab was closer to a half-million and included innumerable unpaid hours of the partners' own labor.
Theirs was an ingenuous gamble of considerable proportions, but the investment was rather rapidly amortized because, Barbero recalls, "We did very well at first." He was then 30 and hoped to leave his work in real estate behind forever. Rogers, the computer expert, was a bit older. Their restaurant drew a sizable dinner crowd. Lunchtime was profitable as well. Their best year was 1987.
Crash Course
Due to the stock market crash of October 1987, by early 1988, even companies not directly connected to the securities industry were cutting back on discretionary expenses such as lunches at fine restaurants. That hurt R&B, as did the ensuing recession. Here, too, the downturn exposed a weakness: The restaurant was "too pricey for the neighborhood." But this understanding did not dawn on the partners immediately. At first, in reaction to the slowdown in business, the partners looked for an easy and inexpensive way out. Reasoning that the interior was too dark, "We lightened up the place, let the high ceilings take more focus, put in a big window, made the interior more inviting from the street." A few more customers came in because of the cosmetic surgery, but not enough.
Most of the problems renovation couldn't fix. When a recession takes its toll on a small business, Barbero explains, "You still have to pay your suppliers, your [employees], your taxes; the last people to get paid are the owners." By 1992, to stay afloat, the R&B partners were spending most of their time working outside the business, Barbero as a real estate broker and Rogers as a consultant to a company that helps computerize restaurants. They continued to open R&B's doors every evening but knew they couldn't go on losing money much longer.
Should the partners simply admit defeat and fold their tent? That would waste their most valuable asset, the extensive renovations already made and paid for. But something [else] had to be put in to replace the money-losing R&B. Ten years older than their first time out and "a lot more savvy about the restaurant business," Rogers and Barbero set about charting their new course. It was then they acted on the realization that R&B was too pricey for the neighborhood. The final nudge in the precise direction they took, Barbero recalls, came from a friend who casually reported that he and the group of young men who had gone out to celebrate his 25th birthday would have done so at R&B, but it was too expensive. "I realized young people like to go out several nights a week, and they have some money to spend, but they don't want to spend a lot all at once," Barbero says. This understanding led to an agreement among the partners that whatever they did next, it would not be a "tablecloth" restaurant, and that the tab for dinner must not be high.
Preparing For The Renaissance
Their hard-won experience now permitted Rogers and Barbero to translate their notion of a modestly priced place into a host of secondary decisions. Costs would be pared by having no table covers or linen napkins to launder and by not going overboard on renovations. Potential profits would be raised by junking the extensive wine list and selling mainly beer and margaritas, on which the markup was higher. The risk would be minimized by taking in a third partner as the chef, a man who had originally started as a salaried chef at R&B and had gone on to Cafe Luxembourg on the Upper West Side. His presence would trim Pat and Bob's potential but would also reduce the amount they would have to invest and the weekly salaries they would have to pay. All this would be done in order to price entrees at less than $10.
After proposing and rejecting hundreds of suggestions for a name, the partners chose one reflective of the new establishment's stripped-down style: Food Bar would resemble "a nice diner." R&B closed on April 12, and the partners quickly dismantled the interior, brought in chrome and gray Formica tables and plain chairs; Food Bar opened on April 26. It was full the first night, and the flood of customers has hardly ebbed since.
Seeing Is Believing
Sight on seventh optical store has come a long way since its first months in business when the mailman was its most frequent visitor. Owner Myron Michaels credits a combination of repeat business and referrals for the steady growth of his busi-ness since it opened in 1993.
Although somewhat negatively affected by the closure of the nearby Barney's store, which drew clients to the area, Sight On Seventh is still very much in business. "We've developed a positive reputation," says Michaels.
The store is located near a subway stop, which Michaels believes helps make it accessible to a great many customers and may offset the lull in passersby created by Barney's closure.
Competition among the area's optical stores has increased since Sight On Seventh made its debut. Though several new shops have opened during the past four years, Michaels is staying ahead of his competitors by focusing on the things that keep customers coming back. "We try hard to provide excellent service, good products and competitive prices," says Michaels.
Michaels' strategy for maintaining business is simple. "We put most of our ad [budget] into our inventory. When people come in, the inventory is here and that creates word-of-mouth," he says.
In the past three years, busi-ness has tripled; sales last year were just under $1 million. Says Michaels, "I'm still here, and I'm smiling."
A Changeable Feast
Business hasn't changed that much--what we've done is changed our business," says Pat Rogers, 55, co-owner of Che 20 20 (formerly Food Bar) restaurant. Rogers and partner Bob Barbero have kept ahead of the pack by anticipating local trends in the restaurant business and being ready to change.
This marks a departure for the partners--one Rogers says the two should have recognized with their first restaurant, the upscale Rogers & Barbero (R&B). "That was a perfect example of not recognizing the change," says Rogers. R&B, which opened in 1983, was succeeded by Food Bar in 1993.
Featuring low prices and a casual atmosphere, Food Bar had been successful. But Rogers noticed that within three years of Food Bar's debut, most of the restaurants in the immediate area began catering to the same low-price market. "We could have gone a couple more years with Food Bar, but we wanted to cut it while people still thought of it in a positive way," explains Rogers. Food Bar closed in October 1997 and reopened in November as Che 20 20, a restaurant with sophisticated décor, higher prices and a slightly older, more upscale clientele.
"In New York City, very few restaurants can exist for a long time," says Rogers. "Any restaurant in my home town of Wichita Falls, Texas, would last forever because people primarily concern themselves with food and service. In New York, [customers] have to be thrilled and titillated."
Rogers and Barbero have added two more partners to their operation. Joe Fontecchio, the original chef at R&B, is now a full partner, and Judy Mancini has replaced Fontecchio as chef and is also a partner.
Rogers admits the profitability of his restaurants fluctuates from year to year; he has experienced everything from losing money to making a 15 percent profit. But with the success of R&B, Food Bar and a bar on 19th Street called G, which Rogers and his partners opened in January 1997, pros-pects look good for Che 20 20. Says Rogers, "We have a very loyal clientele in this part of the city."
Contact Sources
Che 20 20, 149 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10011, (212) 243-2020
Sight On Seventh, 123 Seventh Ave., New York City, NY 10011, (212) 627-4488

subset: commoncrawl


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Dandy Darkly Hosts His Halloween Creepshow
It's the evening of Oct. 31, 2012-and not a living soul is stirring in the pitch-black Lower East Side theater that's been booked to host "Dandy Darkly's Variety of the Damned!" Even the ghost light is dead.
Like most of Manhattan below 30th Street, Dixon Place has been without electricity since Sandy hit-throwing residents into a surreal, disorienting survival mode and cancelling all of the venue's shows, the city's massive spook-themed parade and pretty much everything else that qualifies as business as usual.
Flash forward to one year later-and among the "Stronger Than the Storm" stories that have been flooding local airwaves, you'll find many tales of defiant New Yorkers thumbing their noses at Mother Nature by reclaiming 2012's scrapped plans.
A Kickstarter campaign has infused the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade with enough cash to rise from the dead-and Dandy Darkly is once again booked to rub shoulders with the Witching Hour, when he returns to Dixon Place for a 10:30pm show called Dandy Darkly's Variety of the Damned 2.
Like the journey of renewal his adopted town has taken, Darkly has spent much of the past year making improvements designed to strengthen his core structure in a way that's built to last-but not necessarily built for comfort.
Dread and sex
His is a world of tension, dread and...sex, sex, sex.
The creation of Brooklyn-based Georgia native Neil Arthur James, Dandy Darkly can best be described by harkening back to what we wrote about him last year. Posted on this site just before Sandy hit NYC, "Supernatural Sissy Dandy Darkly Branches Out" was meant to preview his Oct. 2012 Dixon Place gig-Mr. Darkly's first stab at hosting a variety show.
"If Rip Taylor and Vincent Price farmed out their sperm to a satanic lesbian surrogate," we wrote, "the conjoined twin one imagines might be produced from that fiendish union doesn't even begin to approximate...the plump but nimble spawn of queer wit, sexual promiscuity and creepshow intimidation...a comedic creation unlike anything you've ever seen."
The passing of 365 days hasn't diluted our assessment of Mr. Darkly's compelling and original synthesis of humor, horror and graphic smut. It's the direct result, his creator notes, of growing up absorbing the rich tradition of southern gothic storytelling, during an era when AIDS infused gay identity with a very real sense of danger.
"There's always been a terror aspect of sex," says Darkly, whose work often features characters who tap into their capacity to find pleasure in what others fear-and victory through violence.
The story he was set to debut last Halloween ("Bitten: A Portrait of Zombie Sex Addiction in Three Body Parts") recasts the plague years of AIDS as a slippery slope that befalls an everyman who is drawn into the taboo world of "barebite" zombie porn. In "Portly Patton, Bear Skinner," a chubby summer camp lad who doesn't fit in finds his kinky niche by going all Creulla de Vil on the local two-legged bear population.
Ballsy, bizarre tales
Put another pair of ballsy and bizarre tales into that cauldron, and you get "Dandy Darkly's Gory Hole!"-the ever-changing, four-monologue show that put Mr. D. on the map here in NYC, and thrust him into the international spotlight this summer during an acclaimed run at Scotland's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Clearly in on the joke, The Edinburg Reporter used the same sing-songy style that the alliteration-loving Mr. Darkly employs-calling the show "a shuddering, juddering climax of orgiastic transgression!"
Darkly brought more than a fistful of fawning press quotes home from his trip overseas.
"I'm really striving for a much more streamlined and very fast-paced show," he says of the Oct. 31 gig at Dixon Place. "In Edinburgh," he notes, "There was this Australian variety troupe, Brieff. The energy, comedy and glamour of their show was so inspiring." So too, he says, was the power of silence.
"I really learned to pace myself a lot," says Darkly of his own performance style-which is exhausting to watch, if only in the sense that you sometimes want to rush the stage with an oxygen mask or a glass of water to keep the performer from dropping under the pressure of breathlessly delivering his intricately written tales at such breakneck speed.
"I did the math," says Darkly, "and for [the show's] 55 minutes, I was saying almost two words per second. Dandy's delivery is very crisp, with a lot of alliteration. So I learned [in Edinburg] to step back. I think that's a powerful thing in storytelling. Often, an audience hangs from the edge of their seat if you give them a little bit of silence."
Darkly's also realized lately that the hetero- crowd has caught up to his winking nods at what used to be hidden gems of gay humor.
"I've learned that straight audiences know a lot more inside dope than I ever would have given them credit for," he says, cackling at the thought of a mainstream audience that knows enough to laugh at a poppers reference. That's good news, because Darkly's writing is "very queer-centric-and in this world of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and Logo, straight audiences are pretty hip to all the little jokes we have. When I performed in Edinburgh, I expected a lot of stuff to go over the audience's head-and that was not the case at all. The camp and mince, that bitchy queerness, it was all very well received."
Edge dulled?
So is Dandy in any danger of having the cutting power of his outlaw edge dulled, or at least smoothed, now that the straight crowd isn't instantly repulsed by his giddy forays into the back alley of gay sexual practices?
"I think the biggest challenge for Dandy," he says, "is that once you see a costumed character, whether it's drag or clowning, there's that instant snap decision made: 'What is this?' And one of the things I respect about good art is that it has something that defies your expectations. So when I put on one of my variety shows, I strive to really create something interesting on the stage-because there's so much new stuff happening in the New York cabaret scene.
That telling classification, cabaret, is what sets Darkly's variety shows apart from the current wave of popularity enjoyed by the storytelling circuit. The Dixon Place Halloween bill is not to be confused with a "Moth" slam, where winners are rewarded for coming clean with real-life tales. Dandy loads his bill with musicians and burlesque acts whose stage personas are every bit as bawdy and perverse as that of the host who comes to the proceedings armed with another debut tale.
"My new story for Halloween is 'The Bloodmother,' about the cult of pop culture notions of reinvention and having to keep up with the incessant distraction of the Internet age. It's also about celebrity obsession motherhood. The horror elements are pretty gruesome towards the end."
Darkly's guests include Clay McLeod Chapman, who for over a decade has penned all the monologues for his "Pumpkin Pie Show," a horror-themed night of tales that share Darkly's same love of southern gothic, circular comeuppance and shock endings. Boylesque performers Johnny Panic and Lewd Alfred Douglas will bring some tight, blood-spattered skin to the proceedings. Swathed in a cocoon as the house fills up, aerialist Lea McGowan opens the show. Killy Mockstar Dwyer, whom Darkly describes as "a balls to the wall kick-ass rockabilly chick who's incredibly raucous and talented" will perform her own parody songs. Matthew K. Johnson tells a coming-of-age tale that "has a tinge of a ghost story" element to it, and Arch Cape (whom Darkly outs as actually "my really good friend Rachel Blumberg") performs music from her solo project "where she does ambient looping music through pedals and synthesizers to create these spooky, intricate soundscapes."
Dandy Darkly's Variety of the Damned 2 happens at 10:30pm on Thursday, Oct. 31-at Dixon Place (ADDRSSX). Tickets are $15 in advance or the night of, if you're in costume. $20 at the door, if no costume. On Nov. 1, Dandy performs his annual secret show, down under the Dick Dock-part of the SpookyBear party in Provincetown. For more info, visit dandydarkly.com.
Also in Entertainment


text:
RyDog Vitalmenü Geflügel Chicken / courgette
- € 12.05/kg
- incl. VAT, excl. shipping costs
- Delivery 1-3 business days
- appropriate for every life stage
Keep your dog happy with our all natural poultry dish. A delicious meaty taste but especially light and easy to digest. With everything the body requires - tender chicken meat with added courgette, a balanced meal ideal for healthy four-legged friends.
Completely balanced dog food. Ready to serve, best served at room temperature.
Special features of RyAnimal meals
- wholesome meat products
- contains only meat which has been approved for human consumption
- contains only natural raw ingredients
- delicately prepared using a cold filling process
- home delivery service
- free from sugar and other flavour enhancing substances
- free from soya and corn
- free from preservatives and colourings
- free from attractants and fillers
- free from animal meal
- free from plant and cereal flours
- free from added fat
- no animal testing
85.1 % meat and other animal products (100 % chicken (of which 47 % heart)), 9.2 % rice, 4.7 % courgette, 1.0 % minerals
Meat products used:
Lean chicken, chicken heart, chicken livers, chicken neck, bone meal from poultry carcasses
Feeding recommendation:
Dogs weighing up to 5kg: 200g
Dogs weighing up to 25kg: 400g
Dogs weighing up to 40kg: 800g
Dogs weighing over 40kg: 800g
+ addition of flakes
Dogs weighing over 50kg: 1,200g
+ addition of flakes
For a precise calculation of the feed amount, use the
Anifit feeding calculator. http://food.anifit.com
Ingredient profile
9.9 % pure protein, 5.1 % raw oils and fats, 0.4 % raw fibre, 2.4 % crude ash, 78.5 % moisture, 0.35 % calcium, 0.21 % phosphorous, 0.25 % sodium, 3 mg/kg copper, 27 mg/kg zinc, 7 mg/kg manganese
Nutritional supplements
Vitamin D3: 250 IE/kg
Product information
All-in-one feed for dogs
Available in 200g, 400g, 800g sizes


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Ben Meadows:
- Quantity
- Price
- 1+
- $44.25
- 6+
- $41.25
- Description
- Specifications
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Folding handles. Cup lug. 12-1/2"Dia. x 19"H. 10-1/4" Opening.
Rugged heavy-duty polyethylene with extra thick foam insulation for all-day-cool beverages. Every Rubbermaid cooler features a lid vent, splash seal, fast flow faucet, and heavy-duty handles. Two-gallon model features a drink spout in the lid. Orange with white top.
We encourage our customers to let us know what experiences they have had with our products, whether good or bad. By submitting a review, you can share your experiences with others and also provide valuable feedback to us as well. With just a few simple steps, you can add your review of this product.
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Rubbermaid Water Cooler Cup Dispenser
Fits all Rubbermaid coolers equipped with cup lug. Holds 4.25 or 7 oz. disposable cups
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Rubbermaid Water Cooler Disposable Paper Cups, Sleeve of 200
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Rubbermaid Water Cooler Lid for Five Gallon Coolers
Fits 5-gallon coolers
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Fits 10-gallon coolers
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Rubbermaid Water Cooler Faucet
Fits all coolers
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text:
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Cancer's hard. No two ways about it. Diagnosis and treatment can be frightening and draining, and even after you've made it past those hurdles, you have to learn how to make your way through life as a cancer survivor. With modern medicine, though, millions of survivors are not only living longer, but they're also learning to live better. And one of the best paths to doing that is to take steps to take control your health.
These eight "ways" can be your guide that helps lay the foundation for the many health-filled years that most survivors enjoy.
It's almost never too early to start. Whether you've just been diagnosed, are going through treatment or are post-treatment, these eight behaviors can help boost your health.
Your doctor can help guide you, but the only limitation, really, is when you want to start. Begin with one or two; once you've got those down, move on to the others.
You've heard it before, of course. But, if you smoke, the single best thing you can do as a survivor is stop.
It will lower your risk of developing a second cancer as well as heart disease and stroke. Yes, it's hard. But it's far from impossible.
If you don't smoke – and even if you do – stay away from secondhand smoke. It's not as bad as smoking yourself, but spending time in smoky places can further raise the risk of cancer as well as heart disease.
It's tough for a lot of people to fit exercise in to their schedules. For survivors whose regular routines have been so interrupted and who may have just gone through treatment, it can be even tougher. But the benefits of regular activity make it well worth the effort to fit it in, even for those in the middle of treatment. It not only boosts health but also improves mood and helps counter cancer-related fatigue. Regular exercise may lower the risk of recurrence and help cut the risk of other chronic diseases.
Try to get at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity (like brisk walking) every day. More is even better. It's also important to fit in strength training. Build up to 2 or more times per week.
With the stress, treatment side effects and changes to life's routine that a cancer diagnosis can bring, it can be hard for survivors to keep weight in check. Still, maintaining a healthy weight — or at a minimum, not gaining weight — is an important goal that all survivors should shoot for. Next to not smoking, it's the single most important thing you can do to improve your health and quality of life.
As a survivor, it can be tough to know how you should eat. Books and articles and websites spout "wonder" diets, but the reality is that healthy eating is the same for cancer survivors as it is for everyone else. A healthy diet can help keep weight in check, give your body the nutrients it needs and the energy you need to make it through a busy day.
You should focus on fruits, vegetables and whole grains and keep red meat to a minimum. It's also important to cut back on bad fats (saturated and trans fat) and choose healthy fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats) more often.
Taking a 100 percent DV multivitamin with folate every day is a great nutrition insurance policy.
Alcohol can be a complicated issue, especially for survivors. Moderate consumption can be heart healthy – a big benefit. But at the same time, it can increase the risk of a later cancer. On top of this, alcohol can become for some an unhealthy way to deal with the physical and emotional stress of cancer.
If you don't drink, don't feel the need to start. If you do, keep it to moderate levels (one drink a day for women, one to two drinks a day for men). Those who drink more should cut back.
There is real power in staying connected with friends, family and other cancer survivors. Keeping up and building on a social network can significantly improve quality of life – and possibly even prognosis – in cancer survivors. Even in those with great support from family and friends, cancer can seem isolating, so it can take some effort to keep up these relationships.
As a survivor, there's nothing more important than going to your regular post-treatment check-ups with your primary care doctor and oncology team. These visits are not only key to your health as a survivor but also great places to share any concerns or questions you have about your health. Become a team with your doctors to manage your health needs. In addition to any follow up tests specific to your cancer, it's also important to keep getting recommended screening tests for other cancers and for heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis risk factors.


text:
Senior Patent Counsel | Northern Virginia
email@example.com | (703) 760-7751
Takamitsu Fujiu is senior patent counsel in the Northern Virginia office of Morrison & Foerster. Prior to becoming an associate in 2007, Dr. Fujiu was a patent agent with the firm from December 2000. His practice includes patent prosecution, patent infringement and validity analysis, and litigation support. His areas of technical expertise are optics, optical materials, piezoelectric and dielectric materials, semiconductor devices and processing, scanning probe technologies, and carbon nanotube technologies. Dr. Fujiu is a Japanese native and communicates daily with Japanese clients in Japanese.
Dr. Takamitsu Fujiu worked for Nikon Corporation, first as an engineer and later as a manager of a research laboratory. While with Nikon, he spent three years at Penn State and two years at Nikon Research Corporation of America in Belmont, California.Show More
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text: The winter exhibit at the City of Norwalk's Parking Authority's Maritime Garage Gallery, entitled, "Worth A Thousand Words" features artists' renderings that convey storytelling. The exhibit, curated by Nadia Martinez, features works of art that communicate complex ideas in images. The 32 pieces show artists' stories, emotions, concerns, memories and ideas about life, nature, hope, world events, humanity, etc. Exhibiting artists include local artists Day Moore from Milford, Bobbie Bernstein of Westport, Gregory Ziebell of Norwalk and Carol M. Battin from Stamford.


text:
Blessed All Hallow 's Eve to all the blogland. It is finally here, the most sacred of all days. Time for us to remember and honour the past, so we can embrasse it and move on. And is also time for us to throw in our bonfires our sumbolic obstacles to happiness and free ourselves. Have fun today and let the magick fill your hearts.
Greetings to all the blogland.
As the nights grow longer, this is the time of the year we all enjoy sleep more than usual. I love everything about sleep.
I love the bed, the sheets, the covers, layers and layers of them, the fluffy pillows. I love warming my feet on P. and hugging him in the brief moments i wake up during the night. I love our bodies searching one another as pieces of a puzzle. I love all three of our pets on the bed, laying on our feet, leaving us no room to move. I love looking outside my window the yellow lights on the street, especially on a rainy night, before i close my eyes. I love looking at the big pine tree outside my window, especially on a foggy day, when i wake up. I love my dream catcher above my head rescuing me from the evil nightmares, but allowing all the beautiful dreams to fall through the feathers. And of course i love staying in bed as late as i want.
I believe we have great power in our sleeping state. Except for the obvious relaxation and recharging, we embrasse our unconscious and solve problems without even being aware of it. We work through our issues and heal. We travel between the worlds and around them. We have visits from spirits that once loved us. We are warned of dangers of the future so we can prepare ourselves. We are free of moral,social and physical constrains.
So it is only natural that i like every possible spell and ritual that has to do with sleep. I have done them all. Dream pillows, dream potions, love crystalls, sleep insences. But today i am just going to give you a herbal sleep remedy in case you suffer from insomnia or you just want to relax. For a cup of tea, you will just need one teaspoon valerian root, one teaspoon chamomile and one teaspoon of honey. If you like milk in your tea feel free to add some because it also helps induce sleep. If you drink this around half an hour before bed time you will enjoy a better and deeper sleep. Valerian root especially can provide you with vivid dreams, help with anxiety and -thankfully for me- menstrual cramps also.
So have a nice sleep dear bloggers because Halloween is only a breath away and we will need all our strength to celebrate.
Blessings and nighty night.
I won!
So today i am having a bit of trouble dealing with menstrual cramps and this day would normally suck but i won a giveaway at MrsB! I could not believe it! It was the first i ever participated! I am so lucky and i am extremely excited! The price i won is a blog makeover by Tara. You should go and check out the cool designs at http://blogmakeoversbytara.blogspot.com/
As usual you have to copy paste the url because i am so lame and i can not insert a link! But trust me it is worth the trouble.
Today when i woke up the first thing i did was to check out if i won! I knew it was a bit far fetched since so many people have participated but i felt lucky and i was! I want to thank both MrsB and Tara for this. You guys made my day! I am not wallowing in self pity anymore. Okay maybe i am a little but i would be a lot worse without you! I only say i am in pain every half an hour instead of constantly repeating it in a high pitched voice!
So fellow bloggers, prepare yourselves because i will own from now on, a very fancy and cute blog that i will be bragging about in a very irritating way!
On a witcy note, yesterday i casted a money spell although it was a Tuesday, not a very good day for prosperity spells, but i was desperate. Lately i had to pay some bills, which was normal and expected. But car troubles came up which also cost. Then my tooth is aching and it is time for a dentist appointment. And as you know i have some gynaecological issues to check out and i do not have insurance. It is also time for my pets annual vaccination. And the list is never ending. All those things are normal but they all came up spontaneously and now i am sort of broke! I am proud of myself for not freaking out. In the past in a similar situation i would have panic attacks and be afraid of jail time.
I know that all these things happen for a reason. Valuable lessons are to be taught(i have to manage my financial state in a better way and anticipate things like that, be prepared and maybe save some money?). Of course now that Saturn has moved on from Virgo to Libra we should all expect better days economically speaking. Virgo as an earth sign is all about organising and handling money(it is no coincidence that we lived a world wide economic crisis when Saturn was in Virgo). Now financially we are going to be a lot better but our love lives might go through a rough patch(since Libra is the sign of relationships and soulmates).
I have to leave you now, because my electrical warmer on my belly is making me sleepy. But i promise to be back soon before Halloween.
Blessed be.
Wicca and Samhein
Greetings to all the blogland!
I hope everyone is doing well and preparing for Samhein that is only a week away. Samhein is the witch's New Year so it is resolutions time. I love Wicca because it allows us to incorporate modern traditions to our practices and to marry the new with the old. Which brings up the ultimate question. Is Wicca new or old?
Many Wiccans out there are trying to prove and make arguements about the antiquity of our religion, as if the integrity of their spititual beliefs depends on it. I am not one of them. I believe Wicca is as new as it is old. It unites ancient traditions and beliefs from all over the world with new ones. That does not make it less valuable, it makes it more. Scientific discoveries,techological achievements alter our way of life and the basis of our thinking. But we still appreciate meditating and praying(actually now we have scientific proof that it has many health benefits). Our religion walks side by side with our times. It grows as we grow.
It is only natural that we combine different practices in this world of infinite information. I believe Wiccans are eclectic in their core even if they are not eclectic pagans. We choose things that feel right and that does not mean we "do only the easy stuff" as many accuse us of. Which makes no sense because Wicca is a religion based on freedom of spirit and not on restrain. We are not believing because of quilt or because of the fear of damnation. We believe out of love and out of the desire to move into higher spiritual realms. We do not hide from the darkness while searching for light. We embrasse it. At least we try to. We are not perfect but we believe in perfect love and perfect trust.
The fact that Samhein is arriving in seven days just reminds me of how fast this year went by and how small and valuable our lives are. Samhein is the time to honour the past and the loved ones that have crossed over. The veil between the worlds is at its thinnest which makes it perfect time for getting in touch with the spiritual realm. It is time to bring out our quija boards and to cast invocation spells. This is the time when our altars may carry the photos of our deceased as well as black, white and grey candles and a plate of food for the spirits of those who will visit us in this magickal night.
Our altars will be different. Some of them will be simple, some of them will be more elaborate but they will all have something in common. They will be blessed with love, memories and hopes for the future. And as we teach our future generations of honouring the past we embrasse our humanity. Samhein is the night when we celebrate death as a part of life.
I will love to hear of all your preparations, special foods and oils, candles and incenses,rituals or walks to the park, meditation and prays.
Be blessed, be well and have a wonderful weekend.
Psychic's ramble!
Being special like every other thing has two sides. One that makes you feel good and one that scares you and causes you pain.
Growing up as a psychic in a family of psychics was fun. I remember small things like buying a hotdog becoming extraordinary with a vision that made me see exactly how much it would cost. Or after a break in school going to a math class and knowing that we are going to have a test. I told my best friend we are going to have a test and she said"no way, we had one last week". I told her that our math teacher will first teach us the next chapter and then test us on the previous one. And she did n't believe mostly because it was crazy. Apptitude tests come before teaching a new subject so this was making no sense. As the rest of the class listened to the teacher i was studying the previous chapter. And then suddenly he says :"Take out a piece of paper". My best friend looked at me with her eyes wide open. She kept asking how did i know. So that was fun. Acing that test was also fun. I felt unique and talented and proud. Once i saved my family from a fire and that felt also nice and relieving of course.
Then my teens came along and i could practice it every now and then in my mom's office. My accurate readings and the reactions of the clients made me feel like a star. Vanity comes with youth. I saw difficult things like sicknesses and death and i had no problem saying those things. It was a piece of cake. It was n't my fault those bad things would happen. I learned that very early.
People seem to remember a cute little girl in her pj's with a doll under her arm, suddenly saying weird, intimate things that were going to happen. One lady said:"it was so scary". Meaning, i was so scary.
I saw things i could n't understand, like death. How was i to know that those bad things would not happen to my mom and dad. And how was i supposed to know that i was n't causing those bad things. I said so and it happened. Would n't that make me bad? So night terrors came along. My mom had a hard time explaining to me what i was going through. Why i knew things about people i had never met. And everything calmed down a bit.
Then my mom and i played games like "what is this man thinking about"? and "do not try to think it. Feel it". "No logic just feelings". Card readings,tea leaves, hypnosis and magick. But of course all should be kept quiet. No one could ever know. It was a secret. Which was confusing. If it was n't something bad why could n't i talk about it with my friends.
The response was the same every time. Other people will not understand. Other people are not like us. So, all these explain the arrogance of my teen years. I was special.
If someone asked for a reading, they should be prepared. It was n't my fault if anything bad would appear. Everything was clear. Everything made sense. What i did made sense.
Then i moved out. I had my own practice now. And i knew what i was doing. I would just have to keep doing what i did. But then person, after person came.. They were n't strangers anymore. And what i said matter. But most of the times i had to convience that i was for real and that i was not a crook. Then i had to explain that my job was n't to sooth people's minds or tell them what they want to hear.The beauty is still there but sometimes i get so caught up doing those two things that it frustrates me.
I guess now it is more real. I am attached to people and care about them and what is going to happen to them. I just have to accept that it is human nature to not want to hear the "bad stuff". But it would be nice for once to feel like i am indestuctible again. Feeling makes you vulnerable. My old self would say weak. But strenght comes from feeling not the lack of it. I should keep that in mind.
So this was pretty much my life story. I hope i did n't bore you. Be Blessed, be happy and love.
What is wrong with the world?
Good morning, afternoon or evening depending on where you are and when you are reading this. I am sorry yesterday i messed up with the comments while changing the template. I am much better now, able to enjoy the beautiful Sunday. This day is megnificent. I should be out breathing in some sunlight but i have an appointment in half an hour. My usual problem with my period is back, so i feel a lack of energy since this time is lasting more than two weeks and keeps going. I know i have to check it out in a medical way and fix it, but i can not deny that there is something spiritual behind it.
Our period is the core of our womanhood, even the severity of premenstrual syndrome is sometimes a warning bell. It means it is time to ask ourselves "am i taking good care of myself?", "Do i supress my female side?". Most of us have to, so we can stay on top of things. And most of us are made to because we are bombarded with insane, unnatural information of the way we should be and we should act.
Yesterday i watched an episode of "Who 's the most smartest top model". They had a challenge. If the model answered a question wrong he or she had to eat something with a lot of calories like a piece of chocolate cake or a twinkie. The reactions of the models were similar with the guys in Fear Factor when they had to eat worms or scorpions. They were gagging. A girl denied to do it. Another one kept saying it is too sweet. And a guy afterwards said he was feeling lightheaded and nautious. I swear! After a piece of chocolate cake (that looked yammy by the way). One of the guys there, had a bit of a belly(meaning he was n't as skinny as the others) and he cried! For Pit's shake it is a cake!!! One girl was told she is too thin and she worries the judges and she seemed as thin(as ready to collapse) to me as the rest of them!
We all know that the Media do not promote a healthy body image, but when a piece of cake raises similar reactions with worms, i think there is a bigger problem there. Anorexia and bulimia are tearing apart the youth of the world and every single one of us gets scared in the process. Even if we put logic first, and analyse it as a social phenomenon we are still affected. Those images are being imprinted in our subconscious. I had a weird dream-nightmare that i had to eat a candy last night for the love of Goddess.
With food we nurture ourselves. We learn food is bad. We learn to hate ourselves for needing it. As simple as that. The economy is fueled by low self estim. Pharmaceutical companies, weight loss centers, gyms it is a list never ending. They benefit from this while we lose ourselves, our identities until we are all made to look alike. There is no room for being different. And in the meanwhile the western civilisation grows fatter and fatter. The guilt and shame force us to overeat. The controversies become stronger and more obvious. People do not feel fit enough to go to the gym or to order healthy food as if they are judged!
Men go through that too but women are more affected by this situation.
Feel good in your skin. Love yourself the way you are.
I am sad!As simple as that.
Today i am trying to stay on top of things. Not freaking out is a major task along with not hyperventilating! My dad did some tests and he has some serious kindey problems. His kidneys are failing and there is not a medicine for reversing that. He is also diabetic and has heart problems. So to help the kidneys they are cutting him off his heart medication. Right now i am searching the web for herbs that could help out. I know everything is going to be okay. And everything happens for a reason. But i am still sad and worried.
This is not the day i thought i was waking up into. I thought i had the day for myself. I have a massage scheduled and i was going to meditate, drink herbal teas and detox. Maybe hit the gym. And in a split second everything changed. My dad is sick. He is really sick. How do you cope with that? And why in Goddess's name i feel guilty for crying? Earlier in the phone i was trying to sound cheeper(it was kinda scary!). It is okay to be sad. It is okay to be scared. I do not want it to be true but it is. It is not a matter of perception. Which ever way i choose to see it he is still sick.
If you know any herbs that could help please tell me.
Love and blessings to all.
100th post
Today it has been raining all morning. Since i did n't have to work until three pm i could sleep as late as i wanted. So around 9 am i decided to sleep some more and finally woke up at 12 o' clock. It was still raining and i spent some time in bed watching the rain through the window and listening to the sounds of the storm. Beautiful feelings. Now almost three hours later, the sun is out and the street, the leaves, the trees, everything is glowing under the light. Everything is more beautiful after the rain.
This is my centennial post. When i started blogging i never thought it would come that far. And now with a coffee on my hand(one of those that have more calories than your lunch and smell like hazelnut) i feel like celebrating. I am so thankful for blogging. I really am. Although i do not hide my spiritual practices in real life and i am definitely out of the broom closet i do not have people around i can share experiences, thoughts and feelings.
A new moon is coming this Sunday, so it is time to get rid off some unwanted energies and cleanse our homes from negativity. So you could use the salt water potion i posted or smudge the house around. Of course most of you know that you begin at the East and end North so you can cast a protective circle, but i just mention it anyway. The most usual smudges are sage and rosemary. But these are n't the only herbs you can makes smudges of. You can use lavender for serenity and peace if there have been fights lately in your family. You can use eucalyptus for healing physical or emotional wounds or damiana that induces euphoria(it is said that it has a similar but milder effect with cannabis if smoked) and is also an afrodisiac as a tea. You can use lemon verbena smudges for health, beauty and lust, which is a great herb. The tea of lemon verbena helps you release the toxins and helps you to manage your weight by enhancing and stimulating your metabolism. I had drunk a cup a day for a week and i went down half a size without changing anything in my diet(although i should!). Plus it tastes great! I will start drinking it again. Other herbs that help with weight loss are flaxseed and anise.
I am considering of writing the physical information of herbs and plants in my BOS as well as their magickal attributes. Sometimes the natural and magickal attributes of a plant are alike. This happens in the case of eucalyptus. Breathing the steams of eucalyptus helps with asthma and colds. In magick eucalyptus has healing powers.
I think i have collected all the herbs i need for the section in my Book so i should begin writing them down.
Blessings to all...
A bit of happy rambling and a protection spell
This is an extremely peculiar time for me, peculiar but in a good way. I realised yesterday that some of my darkest thoughts no longer dwel in my consciousness. Some of my greatest fears seem to no longer affect me. And although the pain of the past is not to be forgotten so this tiny victory is not to be misinterpreted or ignored.
There were times that i thought i could n't make it, that i was neither strong nor patient enough to prevail. I am so thankful for the magick in my life,for those who love me and whom i love, for the Goddess and those who guided me through what seemed as an endless night. I know the fight is not over yet. There are still obstacles ahead. But now i know i can do it. Now i can have faith again, faith to myself and to my future.
Tears are burning my eyes. Happy tears, tears of relief. All these overwhelming emotions are welcome. Such power those emotions have, that i feel i should put it in good use. As a thank you to all my wonderful readers and followers here goes one of my favourite protection spells for the home. You will only need a glass, a spoon, water and some salt.
Mix the water and the salt in the glass until the water seems clear.
Go to the room in the East side of your home and say this chant over the glass.
Water and Earth wherever you are,
no curse could ever be held,
in the home where i reside,
i have the Goddess(or God) 's blessings
Νερο και χωμα οπου βρεθει
καμια καταρα δεν κρατα,
στο σπιτι οπου ζω εγω
εχω την ευλογια απο τη Θεα.
Make sure to cast the spell in every single room of your house as you move clockwise. When you are finished a proctective circle is casted. Leave the glass outside, either to a balcony, or to your garden, but hide it from the evil eye. It is not to be seen by anyone but your family. It will protect your home for as long as there is water in the glass. When it is gone you can do it again. Works better on a New or a Full moon.
Be blessed and love yourselves for who you are.
Book of Shadows and herbs.
Merry meet to all the ladies and lords of Blogland. Today i am in a much better physical shape. I can walk. I do n't cough so much anymore, i do not feel tired all the time, but the best thing of all is i sang today. My voice was gone for so long and i missed it so bad. I sang two arias, not very good, but still i can sing again. I do not think i appreciate my voice enough. It brings me so much pleasure, it alters my state of consciousness, it helps me cope when i have to and it relaxes me.I have to remember that, and cherish it.
On a more witchy kind of note, there is something i have been postponing for way too long, writing down on my BOS the most important herbs in my craft. I have been avoiding it mostly because it is time consuming but also because i am afraid i will forget something.I will not keep them in an alphabetical order so i can work on this "chapter" for a while and add whatever i want to in the process.
Although, i strongly believe in having real books as BOS, it is difficult to add or change something on them. But they worth it. Every time i see my BOS i feel a rush of power, just like my box of ashes. The rest of my tools are n't as important. My athame, my bell they can all be replaced. But my BOS and my box of ashes are staying in the family, hopefully long after i am gone! So i have to do it properly without mistakes. Of course, the book is growing as i am growing but i still feel i should be really careful. Have you written down your most important herbs and their correspondences on your BOS? Have you categorised them?
Since i am the non smoker of the family, everybody seem to take from me my lighters(steal is kinda harsh word hah?) and i can not have my ritual. This is the second time this week.For the love of Goddess, what 's a girl to do? Bang rocks together? It is a shame too, because i have picked up like a million pine needles to burn!
By the way we have a new government. Lets hope to some big changes in every single thing, and less corruption. Crossed fingers for this wish!
I sprung my ankle. You can say this is not my week! I knew that my box of ashes on the floor was a bad omen! In our whole garden there is a teeny tiny hole and of course, i stepped into it! If I was n't in pain i would kick myself in the a..! How clumplsy can a person be?
Petros has my lighter-s and i can not have my ritual(i wish i have figured it out before decorating the whole frigging living room with a limp!). So instead i will write my wish on a leaf and let it fly to the wind, because by the time he is back i will be sleeping! Do you have any idea of how i could celebrate without fire? I have done the leaf spell in the past and it was beautiful, but still, there were candles burning. I can not operate ike that people! Woooo! I am pissed off! Inhaling happy thoughts exhaling negativity, anger, frustration, need to swear, need to yell. Oh the list is big.
Happy Esbat to all of you who have a lighter around!
The Esbat and some protection tools..
Good morning. Happy Esbat to all. I hope that we will all have tonight the opportunity to celebrate and admire Her beauty. Here we have elections and the whole country is hoping for better days to come. I am optimistic. The election day falls on a full moon. It must mean something.
Today i woke up with a horrible headache. Aspirin's effect has n't kicked in yet. So celebrating will start as soon as i stop seeing dots. I am probably not doing the best possible thing by "inhaling" coffee since i woke up, but i can't help it, i need my coffee. Maybe on the new moon i will wish for the end of this addiction, but screw it! It is too good!
As i already told you we have elections here. What i have n't told you is that because i keep postponing to bring my papers closer to home i have to do a road trip today. I am trying so hard to see the bright side here, but the roads today will be crazy full and traffic jams with headaches don't mix very well. Although, i have n't left the house since i came down with the cold, so hopefully i will have a good time.
The weirdest thing has happened yesterday. When i walked into my office i saw my box of ashes lying on the floor face down. It creeped me out since my fur babies did not have access to it(door was closed) and even if they did they could not reach it(my altar is a shelf on my bookcase, and the box was behind the other items, but the only thing down on the floor was the box.If up there, which is pretty hard, he would have to drop everything else first) . I am trying to find a reasonable explanation, but i can't. No matter what happened my family heritage on the floor could not be a good sign. So although tonight i was planning for a prosperity spell, i will dedicate my ritual to protection. For incense i will use rosemary, thyme and sage. Instead of gold candles that i was originally going to use, i will burn red ones. And a great spell that translates something like
We are light, our love is stronger than you, you can not hurt us, darkness go away from our home, not even shadows can live here.
For those of you who can read greek here it is:
"Ειμαστε φως
ΕΙμαστε πολυ δυνατοι για εσενα
Δεν εχεις πως
να μας κανεις κακο κανενα
Γυρνα πισω αναμεσα στις σκιες που ανηκεις
Εδω ειναι αγαπη δεν εχεις ελπιδα νικης"
In greek sounds so much better. For starters it rhymes.
Anyhooo, if you want to protect your home the best tools are rosemary and sage for smudges or incense. Plant common rue in a pot and keep it on a balcony of your home. It drains all the negative energy from a house and the intense smell is supposed to keep away malevolant spirits. On the other hand, bay leaves are great for protection, but also enhances the power of your other herbs, like mandric root does. Mandric root and ginger make great protection potions if you boil them with water. But do not ever drink it, cause mandric root is toxic! Just keep it in a small bottle on a window, or bury it in your garden if you are lucky enough to have one. Last but not least red candles are very powerful, but they are ruled by Mars, so be extra careful what you wish for. If you have not mastered yet your visualising skills prefer white candles.
Have a blessed Esbat.
at 11:05:00 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: candles, elections, Esbat, herbs, protection
Still down..
Greetings to all the blogoworld. I am still sick but i have my voice back and i do not sound anymore like i recently had a sex change operation. Fever is down, i breathe through my nose(yeeiih)and the antibiotics seem to be working just fine. But i hate missing out on Autumn especially because the weather this week has been great. I feel the forests inviting me to walk them. But i can't! I am stuck here. So i tried crafting again. I cut paper(lots of it) into leaves and i painted some of them in a soft golden brown colour and some of them in a soft red colour. Then i scotchtaped them to a light pink wall in the living room. Originally i wanted to put them on the wall above the fireplace but it is painted in a dark colour and they did not look good.
Until recently i only thought seasonal decorating is something you do before Christmas but i have been following jaz 's blog for a while, and well, she inspired me..a lot. I love the way my house is changing like the season does. Petros says if i keep on doing it, that it will end up looking like a cafe. But what is wrong with that?
Anyway, an Esbat is arriving. I plan on celebrating Her beauty with some cleansing both body and house, some meditating, incense burning, chanting and spending time wih Petros. I will make a pop roast and a pie. And i am going to have a ritual Autumn bath,with a mix of herbs like lemon Verbena, rosemary, lavender. I will prepare some lavender sea salts as well. I can't wait for the Esbat to arrive. It is going to be so much fun.
I was thinking of adding some new practices to my craft. I do not use many shamanic tools so i will give them a shot. I am thinking of drums and humming. Maybe i will record something for meditation. Does any of you have any shamanic potions that i could make?


text:
Voracious sea stars and warming sea temperatures conspired to decimate the North Coast's red abalone population. The state's Fish & Game Commission banned recreational harvesting of the mollusks in 2018, in hopes of giving the critters a chance to recover. Late last year, Fish & Game extended the closure to 2021, because the population has not rebounded.
I know it's hard on divers who love the sport and the dive shops that depended on the diving trade, but the gastropods need all the breaks they can get. The ban opens up other diving opportunities. In fact, diving for abalone is too easy. They don't move so quick and it's easy to get your limit.
Want a challenge? Try spearfishing. Spearfishing hunting grounds occur where abalone live, in rocky crevices and reefs. But your prey—cabazon, ling cod and various rockfish—are wily and hide in holes or stay still in hopes you won't notice them.
It's definitely worth taking a class or two to learn technique and safety, but you don't need to be a master breath-holder to take up the sport. The good folks at Santa Rosa's Seals Watersport have all the gear and expertise you need. It helps to be physically fit to dive, but the secret to spearfishing is to remain calm. Remaining calm slows your body's consumption of oxygen, meaning you can stay under longer while you chill and enjoy the hunting expedition.
And here's another benefit of spearfishing over ab diving: fish are much easier to clean than abalone. And let's be honest, emerging from the water with a speargun and a fat fish is pretty badass. 2112 Armory Drive, Santa Rosa. 707.542.3100. sealswatersports.com. —S.H.
Oreo cows. They're a thing. Not just something your goofy friend shouts in the car, pointing to a Napa hillside—quoting the Napa Valley Register, in a news headline from 2008: "Oreo Cows wander on to Highway 29." That particular herd of Belted Galloways, which are visually bewitching on account of being generally black on both ends with a creamy white center, has long been beloved by cow spotters on their way to Napa Valley winetasting. But cow-mad hikers may be pleasantly surprised to find, upon rounding a bend on a trail in the new Jenner Headlands Preserve, they're face to face with their favorite striped cow. And that's not the first pleasant surprise at Jenner Headlands, which opened to the public in September 2018. The gates and facilities are handsomely constructed, there's a telescope for whale watching from the bluff, and parking is free, thanks to a partnership between the Wildlands Conservancy and Sonoma Land Trust. They brought in a new rancher to manage the cows in 2014, says Wildlands regional director Brook Edwards. The breed was developed in Scotland to thrive in coastal environments, and is a bit smaller than more typical breeds in this region. The cows are rotated to different pastures when grazing targets are met. "That creates a mosaic of grassland habitat on the coast. There are birds and mammals and reptiles that need these grasslands to persist," says Edwards. And of course, they're a hit. "People tend to really like them out here." 12001 Hwy. 1, Jenner.—J.K.
They're cool, they're creative, they're fast—and they're zucchinis.
And they are out to squash the competition.
For over 30 years, the Sonoma farmers market has been host to the annual Zucchini Races, now held at Sebastiani Winery's Arbor Park in August. In the wacky squash-season event, zucchinis are rigged with wheels, or placed in squash-themed conveyances of some sort, where they compete against each other in heats of four at a time. That's how big the track is—just four lanes.
The races have been widely covered by press around the world, and have been praised for their garden-friendly creativity by such foodie favorites as Lisa Atwood, a Sonoma-based cookbook author who's written about the races on her popular Sonoma Family Cook blogsite (and who took this picture!). Originally devised by Sonoma's Hilda Swartz, the event has proven so popular, other markets around the county (Windsor and Healdsburg among them) have recently introduced zucchini races to their own summer activities. sonomaplazamarket.org.—D.T.
My friend Brett Foxwell is an incredibly talented machinist, animator and filmmaker whose number one quality might just be his unwavering patience. His epic stop-motion animated short film, Fabricated, took 10 years of design and filming, where Foxwell created a trippy, surreal world of Frankenstein-like machines. Another of his projects, WoodSwimmer, involved him taking discarded pieces of wood and shaving layers off one at a time to reveal the hidden patterns underneath. That project caught the eye of director Darren Aronofsky, who included it in last year's National Geographic series One Strange Rock. Beyond his intricate model building and filmmaking, last year Foxwell shared with me his other obsession: digging for potatoes. It was at the Great Peter Pumpkin Patch, the annual October offering from Spring Hill Jersey Cheese and Petaluma Creamery that features hay rides, a corn pit, farm animals and a field of potatoes that visitors can visit and dig through to collect their spuds. I met Brett and his partner, Isabel, at the patch expecting to try some pumpkin ice cream and grab a future Jack-o'-lantern while hanging out on the farm, but Brett had other ideas. Like a shot, he took off to the potato field, a bag at the ready to collect his haul. But this was late in the day and late in the season, and wouldn't you know it, there was not a potato to be found among the mounds of dirt. That didn't stop Brett. With a concentration usually reserved for open-heart surgery, Foxwell grabbed his shovel and began to methodically, obsessively dig through the trenches, determined to farm those taters like his life depended on it. It felt like forever, but eventually Brett found two tiny little tots lounging in the field that he triumphantly raised into the air like rescued puppies. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I spied boxes of potatoes off to the side, surely meant to refill the field for tomorrow's crowds. It didn't matter. Brett got his potatoes and the satisfaction of pulling them from the earth's embrace himself. springhillcheese.com.—C.S.
East of Santa Rosa (which is like east of Eden except not exactly Eden), there is something quite rare. It's a bridge. It's just a little footbridge. And while it may seem like we've got plenty of bridges, maybe we don't always have enough in the right places. The story goes like this: some 100 years ago and then some, the Southern Pacific Railroad tooted its way down the right-of-way that's now called Channel Drive past Trione-Annadel State Park. Destination: Sonoma and points beyond. Later on, the tracks were abandoned. What an opportunity! But this was still a long time ago, before Rails-to-Trails, when the thing that people did with invaluable, alternative routes through the landscape was to slice and dice them until they didn't connect nobody to nothing. A bridge of regret? There's more. Then we got the park, which is a public good, and it got new neighbors in the White Oak subdivision, which is gated. Bicycle enthusiasts used a pathway connecting the public park to public streets, to bypass a particularly hair-raising stretch of Highway 12. Acrimony ensued, and public use lost the suit. But before the end of the road, there's this little bridge, easy to miss. A bridge of hope? Well, it certainly encourages courtesy from all users, as it's so narrow that no two can pass. Poor little bridge. But it's all they've got. Walkers from the Oakmont side must be sure-footed to climb the steep, dirt bank to the road. Cyclists on road wheels must exercise caution on the turn. Everyone can stop in the middle when they've got it all to themselves for a minute, and take in the calming sight of that water burbling gently under the bridge.—J.K.
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The Grammys are returning to their traditional month of February for 2011.
The Recording Academy announced Tuesday that music's biggest night will be held on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011.
The show will be held at the Staples Center again in Los Angeles and aired live by CBS.
This year's show was held on Jan. 31, mainly because of the Winter Olympics.
Because of that, the cut-off date for music to be eligible for a Grammy was moved up to Aug. 31. This year, the cut off will return to Sept. 30.
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Europeans Shared Spy Data With U.S.
Phone Records Collected Were Handed Over to Americans to Help Protect Allied Troops in War Zones
Millions of phone records at the center of a firestorm in Europe over spying by the National Security Agency were secretly supplied to the U.S. by European intelligence services—not collected by the NSA, upending a furor that cast a pall over trans-Atlantic relations.
The revelations suggest a greater level of European involvement in global surveillance, in conjunction at times with the NSA. The disclosures also put European leaders who loudly protested reports of the NSA's spying in a difficult spot, showing how their spy...
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